budget

Presidential budget proposals have been dead on arrival before.  However, the Hagstrom Report says no budget outline has been as dead as the one President Trump sent to members of Congress on Monday.   No one in the entire American food chain seems happy with what they’ve seen.  Everyone, from mem...

President Trump’s fiscal 2019 budget request to Congress,could have even less impact on lawmakers’ spending decisions than last year’s request, now that a massive two-year budget deal is on the books.  The President proposed $5 billion, or 21%, in discretionary cuts to USDA’s 2018 budget, in everything from food safety and rural development to conservation, research, and foreign food aid.  It was

Stretching that dollar is vital for farmers to be successful.  And to help, Northwest Farm Credit Services is offering tools to help balance the budget.  Carl Sohn, Vice President of Customer and Employee Education at NWFCS, says one of the most effective tools is the Cash Flow Budget.  He said...

With the wintry weather locking many of us in our homes or farms, now is the perfect time according to one financial expert to assess our financial status.   Rutgers University Extension Financial Expert Barbara O’Neill warns, “Don’t overwhelm yourself of course, but just pick off some things you think you can accomplish in the next year.”   But before you se...

In 2016, many farmers were able to break even only because they had such large yields, record yields in some cases.   USDA Chief Economist Rob Johannson says that will likely be the case for 2017 as well, and it’s hard to keep relying on that.   “...

U.S. agriculture's financial situation in 2017 looked about the same as 2016, putting more farmers on a financial tightrope.  USDA's Gary Crawford files this report.  

With Thanksgiving days away, the USDA's Gary Crawford has several tips to help prevent from falling in to Holiday debt.       If you have a story idea for the Washington Ag Network, call (509) 547-1618, or e-mail gvaagen@cherrycreekradio.com...

The Trump administration offered support this week to the 2018 spending package the House is set to consider that includes the ag spending bill.  The measure includes funding for the USDA, the EPA, and other federal agencies.   In a statement, the White House says that if the bill was “presented to the president in its current form, his advisers would recommend that he sign the bill into law.”  Po

It may not be front and center in agriculture like the farm bill discussion is, but farmers have a lot to worry about as Congress debates the future of health care.  Politico’s Morning Ag Report said farmers have been struggling for some time with low commodity prices and a sharp drop in farm income.  In turn,...

It looks like lawmakers will have $130 billion less to write the upcoming farm bill.  The Congressional Budget Office made that announcement when it published its 10-year baseline projections.  The C.B.O. predicts that both farm and nutrition programs would cost roughly $822 billion over the next ten years.   ...